• Universitat de València

Terpenes and terpene derivatives are non-biodegradable compounds under natural environmental conditions, making them a major environmental pollutant. These compounds pollute the effluent of industrial plants, such as pulp mill water, and are the basis of materials such as tyre rubber or latex, representing tonnes of waste from terpene-based materials per year. Very few micro-organisms are known to have the ability to degrade terpenes, and those that do have this ability only degrade either cyclic or acyclic terpenes. Therefore, there are no known micro-organisms capable of degrading terpenes without discriminating the type of terpene and recycling is the only solution so far for the accumulation of such materials.

Researchers from the Universitat de València have isolated a strain belonging to Pseudomonas sp. with the capacity to degrade cyclic and acyclic terpenes and terpene derivatives. This strain can be used as a biofactory for the production of substances on an industrial scale using terpene-rich resin as a carbon source. It is also possible to treat biomasses rich in the terpene limonene, present in citrus peels, as a step prior to fermentation by terpene-sensitive micro-organisms such as yeasts, which carry out the alcoholic fermentation of these biomasses.

Moreover, the strain is able to tolerate fungicides, in particular imazalil, and shows antifungal capacity on fungi belonging to the genera Aspergillus and Penicillium.

The strain is also able to grow in the presence of hydrocarbons such as diesel and produces surfactants in the presence of these hydrophobic compounds, facilitating their emulsification, which enables subsequent treatment of the hydrocarbon.

The main application of the technology is in the biotechnology sector for different purposes such as:

• Bioremediation, for degradation of terpene-based materials such as latex.
• Processing of terpene-rich residues from the agri-food industry, e.g. removal of terpenes with antimicrobial action from citrus peelings.
• Production of substances or compounds on an industrial scale from terpenes and/or terpene derivatives as a carbon source.
• Fungicide, to inhibit the growth of phytopathogenic fungi with the possibility of combination with other fungicides such as imazalil.
• Elimination of compounds such as diesel or other hydrocarbons in polluted environments, thanks to the production of surfactant compounds.

The main benefits of the invention are:

• Degradation of both cyclic and acyclic terpenes.
• Faster degradation rate of rubber or latex than other strains, two weeks instead of months.
• Strain adhesion to latex and in situ degradation, allowing large-scale treatment of accumulated materials without the need for pre-treatment to solubilise them in liquid media.

• Patent granted